Birthday Celebration

Birthdays are special. Jen and I always try to take off from work on our birthdays to go have fun! Last year, I was lucky to be with my family in Denmark on my birthday. The year before we bagged Longs Peak on my birthday. On Jen’s birthday that same year we extended the celebrations to an entire weekend spending one day in the back country and the other at Copper Mountain.

Yesterday on Jen’s birthday we went to Vail. It was mid-week, so no traffic on I-70, and the forecast was calling for lots of snow to fall on top of the huge amounts of snow the mountains already had been getting recently. We expected an awesome day, and we got it.

Hiking up Ptarmigan Ridge

We went all over the mountain, going many of the places I had visited when I was at Vail for several days a couple of weeks ago. After a quick run on a groomer we started hiking up Ptarmigan Ridge, and we were later happy that we decided to do this first thing in the morning before the winds and snow picked up. We saw the storm brewing out west in the morning hours, and when it a little later moved in for real, it became a complete white out. It was so bad that Vail Resort opted to close some of the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin on account of the weather, and we eventually sought refuge in the trees on the front side of the mountain.

Shredding the Never Run at Sun Down Bowl

We got some great runs in on the backside of Vail before they closed it, though. The run into Sun Down Bowl from the top of Ptarmigan was phenomenal, and so was the run through the Skree Field in Pete’s Bowl. Once again we cruised right through what last year seemed incredible steep and challenging to us.

Going through Skree Field in Pete’s Bowl

The special treat of the day was the run out the gate on top of Pete’s Express. We were the first people out the gate, and most likely the only people going out the gate, as they closed the Basin shortly thereafter.

Out of Bounds Powder at Vail

After our long day of skiing we went back to the car and changed from ski-wear to street-wear and wandered around in Vail village for some time, mingling with the “fur coats”, before we found our choice of restaurant. The menu was surf-and-turf, the wine delicious, and all-in-all a great end to a great day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!